ABSTRACT
The province of Riau, located on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, has developed through the explotation of natural resources (mainly oil and gas), and also agriculture through the cultivation of cash crops and forestry (timber) supported by waves of transmigration. The development of the palm oil sector started in Riau in the early twentieth century (1920) at about the same time the first state plantations were set up in North Sumatra by the Dutch colonial authorities.
